That woman who had been left in Sheng Palace did not gain any further favour from the Eighth Prince after that night, as if that person had forgotten her after using her. She was staying in a barren small courtyard alone, facing four walls the whole day, spending lonely and bitter days.
But she could not care about being lonely anymore and cared even less about whether the Eighth Prince was going to “use” her or not, she even wished that the Eighth Prince would not appear ever again. Because, abnormalities had occurred in her body, her private area below was unbearably itchy and was covered in blisters, the colour was even yellow and when she faced the mirror, she was so shocked that she almost fainted. These were clearly signs of venereal disease, but why did she have this illness?
She had a one night stand with the Eighth Prince with a pure body, could it be that time? This disease was given to her by the Eighth Prince?
This question had existed in her mind for many days and she secretly obtained information during those days but discovered that there was nothing that abnormal with Xuan Tianmo. Logically, if her own lower half had become like this, if Xuan Tianmo had given it to her, then his condition should be more serious.
Then she remembered that there were a few courtesan concubines belonging to Xuan Tianmo in this manor. When she discovered that she had caught the illness, she immediately thought of those concubines. If Xuan Tianmo had that disease, those people should have caught it. She could not meet Xuan Tianmo, but she could meet those few ladies. But after meeting them, she discovered that those people did not have the illness, and listening in more detail, after she had fun with Xuan Tianmo, he had never entered the rooms of these concubines at all.
This woman was severely troubled that time, what did this mean? This meant she had caught the illness first and had nothing to do with the Eighth Prince. But when she did it with the Eighth Prince, she was still a virgin! She had never gotten close to any other man besides him.
As she was thinking, the itch from her lower regions flared up again. She tolerated it and tolerated some more but was unable to bear with in the end. Since it was the middle of the night and there was no one in the house, she reached into her pants and scratched. She did not care if she was going to break those blisters, she was wanted to relieve her itch. But at this moment, she heard the house bar get kicked open by someone with a “bang”, and immediately after that, Xuan Tianmo quickly walked over and when he stood in front of her mat, that woman was unable to take her hand out from her pants in time.
Seeing her familiar action, Xuan Tianmo immediately thought of the awkwardness he experienced in the imperial palace and quickly understood what was going on. He gestured to the attendant next to him and the attendant, not saying anything more, stepped forward and pulled off the woman’s pants.
The woman screamed in fright and wanted to use her hands to cover her private area, but they wanted to see that area. The grip strength of that attendant was like a clamp and though this woman had some martial arts training, it differed too much when compared to a man, and she was restrained by the other party with practically no resistance. Her legs were even pulled apart and the area which was inflicted was clearly exposed to Xuan Tianmo.
He breathed in sharply, shouting angrily: “It was like that after all!” Then reaching out with his right hand, he grabbed the woman’s throat: “You fox! You’re the one who caused This Prince to catch a strange illness, This Prince will definitely strangle you to death today!”
He carried out what he declared, putting more force into his hands. That woman’s face became more and more twisted, turning blue and after a few breaths, she moved no longer. But Xuan Tianmo had not finished venting his anger, his hand holding on her throat did not loosen and his grip even tightened some more. When that throat changed shape and blood and flesh mixed together, it was only then did he let go. Seeing the lower body of that woman, other than flaring up in anger, he became fearful.
This woman’s condition was already so serious, how could it be that serious? He breathed heavily, pondering, with that area being so rotten, could it still be saved? Was it because treatment was not sought in time or was it because this illness could not be treated at all? As he thought this, the effect of the anti-itching medicine below had passed. With this itching symptom, the effect of the medicine was not that useful and could only ease the feeling, not get rid of it altogether. He started to itch again and one hand of his could not help but scratch. That attendant had no choice but to remind him: “Your Highness, you cannot scratch anymore, look at her.” He pointed at the woman, “This is clearly due to all the scratching.”
“What is This Prince supposed to do if not scratch? Itch to death?” Xuan Tianmo said while grinding his teeth: “What illness is this? Who can treat it?”
That attendant had always been at the Eighth Prince’s side ever since he entered the palace and naturally knew Xuan Tianmo’s condition very well. With the shifting of his eyes, he did propose an idea, “ Your Highness, in This Subordinate’s opinion, for this illness, there is a place where help can be sought for.”
“Where?”
“The brothels.”
Asking brothels for help for venereal disease, this was a good idea, Xuan Tianmo thought that those people who were immersed in the streets and alleys of the red light district for many years would naturally see and know a lot about this kind of condition. The imperial physicians in the palace would examine the illnesses of the concubines and noble ladies, but the ladies in the palace were clean, this caused them to be unable to do anything about this kind of condition. It seemed like he had been seeking help from the wrong people.
“Alright.” Xuan Tianmo nodded, and his face relaxed a little, “I will let you deal with this matter, do your best to find the most experienced people. Of course, after that, all of them must be gotten rid of without a trace. As for this……” He looked at the woman who was strangled to death and suddenly felt a little regret, why did he strangle the person to death in a fit of anger? If he did not strange her to death, she could be used as a test subject so he did not have to risk himself immediately. But the person was already dead and it was useless to say anything more, he waved his hand: “Throw this out, and together with everyone in this house, throw them all out.”
After saying this, he left the room with large steps and returned to his own bedroom directly. This was when he stripped quickly and took out the anti-itch medicine the imperial physician prepared for him.
Actually, other than the people of the red light district, he had thought of another place which might be able to treat him. That would be Hundred Herb Hall, Feng Yuheng’s Hundred Herb Hall. But he and Hundred Herb Hall were on opposing sides, Feng Yuheng was more than happy to see him suffer, why would she act to help him? In addition, Xuan Tianmo kept having a vague suspicion that his own condition might just be related to that damned girl.
The nights at the brothels were lively and the first day of the New Year was no exception. In less than an hour, Xuan Tianmo’s attendant kidnapped five brothel pimps and had them examine his master over the night.
Unfortunately, for the five people, all of them were shocked after seeing the affected area, all of them also shook their heads and sighed, expressing: “This is definitely one of the venereal diseases, but we have never seen it before. Since we have never seen it before, we naturally do not know how to start the treatment.”
One person did say: “It’s not like I have never seen it before. There was someone who showed similar symptoms, but it was much milder than this and those blisters were not this huge. Unfortunately, though it was much milder and many precious herbs were used, the life was not saved. Obtaining this illness, death is certain, and it is…… death from rotting.”
These five people did not understand where they were and did not know the identity of the person they were facing. They were tied up in the dark and their eyes were blindfolded the whole time. If they knew that the person who was ill was the Eighth Prince who was most favoured by the Emperor currently, they might not even say such words even if they were beaten to death. In fact, they might act just like those three imperial physicians, being wise and playing it safe.
Xuan Tianmo did not give up and repeatedly confirmed with them if his condition really had no cure, and when he did get a definite answer, he gestured to his attendant, drawing a line across his throat. Immediately after, a shadow of a blade flashed and the throats of the five people were cut in a blink of an eye.
The attendant threw the bodies out of the house and very quickly, the hidden guards came out to take care of them. Even the bloodstains in the house were cleaned up by someone who had entered immediately. And currently, Xuan Tianmo felt that he been sent to the death row. In fact he felt more uneasy compared to when he was first sent to the death row. Especially when he remembered the pimp from just now say “Death by rotting”, he could not help but shudder. He did not want to die and did not wish to die this way. For this illness, he needed to make use of all methods to cure it!
That night, the palace was not quiet. The Emperor stayed at Cun Shan Palace. In this period of more than twenty years, after he started to favour concubines again, it was the first time he stayed at a concubine’s palace to sleep.
Imperial Concubine Yuan Gui kept him company, having fun with him for a while and the Emperor fell into a deep sleep. After all, the old Emperor drank quite a lot of wine at the imperial banquet and using up his physical strength for this period, he was sleeping very deeply this time.
Imperial Concubine Yuan Gui got up after he fell asleep and sneaked into that bathroom. The bathroom was still enveloped in mist and very quickly a pair of large hands shot over, touching her lower body directly, then spoke in a lustful tone: “The old Emperor is still useful huh!”
“He’s very behind compared to you!” Imperial Concubine Yuan said coquettishly, then leaned into that person’s embrace. When that person removed her clothes and dragged her into the pool and she watched that person help to clean her body as the reason to take advantage of her, she asked: “Mo-er caught a very strange illness, his lower regions are strangely itchy and it could be concluded as a venereal disease, but no one can explain exactly what it was and no one can treat it. Say, what is going on? For the illness, can you treat it?”
That person looked up from her chest and said: “I am a Gu Master, but I am not a doctor, if you said someone had been inflicted with the Gu, I can get rid of it, but if they caught an illness, I cannot do anything.” After saying this, he wanted to pounce on her body, but Imperial Concubine Yuan Gui pushed him away.
“You plan to ignore me after saying you cannot do anything? That is my son! I am still hoping that he can sit on the throne and bring me glory for the second half of my life! Didn’t you also say before, as long as Mo-er sits on the throne, we don’t have to sneak around like now? It will not be to the point of being completely open, but at least there is no need to be locked in this small bathroom, right? Why is it that even though Mo-er is in trouble now, you don’t feel anxious at all? Let me tell you, that old man is outside now, I did not come in to have fun with you and just wanted to ask if you have any solutions, I cannot watch Mo-er continue being sick like this. If anything happens to him, all of our efforts would have gone to waste.”
“I know.” Seeing that Imperial Concubine Yuan Gui was really angry, he also became serious, saying: “What I said before was the truth, though a Gu Master is half a doctor, most of what we treat are Gu conditions. We do not have any special methods for normal illnesses. What you said about the Eighth Prince, if he really caught that kind of illness, then ask the imperial physicians or go to the red light district and find someone who specialises in that sort of thing, they will likely have some method to deal with it. In addition, you have to ask if he went to a brothel, and how he caught this illness.”
“He had not gone to a brothel.” Imperial Concubine Yuan Gui was sure about this, “Mo-er never goes to that kind of place, he said the women in that kind of place are too dirty.”
“Then someone tampered with him!” That man sounded very sure when he said this.
And with this sentence, Imperial Concubine Yuan Gui suddenly thought of a possibility……